


A Story for Sleep

by DanaSPriddy



Category: Original Work
Genre: Changelings, Gen, Monologue, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Original Character Death(s), Tissue Warning, maybe magic, maybe mundane, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 21:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10369434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanaSPriddy/pseuds/DanaSPriddy
Summary: A mother tells her ill daughter one last bedtime story.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: There is a non-graphic, hinted at death of a child.

Oh Melody…

I’ve never told you the whole story about how I adopted you. I was always going to one day, but it never seemed like the right time; I think though, now…now is the right time. Nine years ago, I desperately wanted to be a mom, but I couldn’t find a place that would let me have a child. Not without a husband. And then one night, just when I had given up hope, a beautiful woman appeared on my doorstep. A beautiful, but sad woman holding an infant in her arms. 

I let her in of course, it was far too dark and cold for a mother and baby to be standing on a doorstep. She thanked me, her voice was marked by a strange accent, almost musical, and was deeper than I thought it would be. 

I made tea in kitchen while she fed her infant in the living room; speaking softly in a language I had never heard before. She had been wearing this long, hooded coat when I let her in the house, but when I came back with the tea she had taken it off. 

Oh Melody, you should have seen her. She was tall and willowy, her skin was a golden brown; her hair was the color of midnight and bound up in countless tiny braids interwoven with silver chains and diamonds. Her eyes were the deepest, saddest gray I’ve even seen. She was so beautiful and those eyes were so sad that I almost didn’t notice that her ears were pointed. 

I stood there with two mugs of hot tea in my hands and she stood there nursing you; we stared at each, not sure what to say as the news played in the background. And then the spell was broken when I had to hurry to put down the mugs – they were too thin and burning my hands. 

She smiled at me. You were so small that you fit in one arm and she took one of my hands in her free one and kissed my burnt fingers. 

“My name is Malanthia,” she told me, “and I need your help.”

Oh Melody, I never knew how to tell you this. I didn’t want to scare you; I didn’t want you to think I was lying; I didn’t want you leave. I’m not sure which thing I didn’t want more. Your other mother, your birth mother, was a queen – the ruler of the night elves. Her people were under attack and losing badly. She escaped with her queendom’s most valuable treasure; you, her heir. 

She had been injured, she was dying, she needed someone else to raise you. 

I don’t know how she picked me. 

I don’t know why she picked me. 

But I am so very glad she did.

When she placed you in my arms and you smiled at me; I knew you were meant to be mine. My little princess.

The spell to make you look and age like a human took a lot out of Malanthia; in the end, she was only in our lives for another year. 

She died in the garden; her body fading to into starlight and dust. Where the black hollyhocks grow; they grew there afterwards, in the years as you grew; in the times that I didn’t know what to do, when I thought I was the worse mom in the world, I would go out and talk to the hollyhocks. 

I remember seeing you talking to them once too; you said that you had seen me to it. 

I’ve been talking to them a lot lately. 

You see there is more to the story than I’ve told you yet.

Oh Melody, I thought I would have more time. 

I never though you would only be nine.

You are the heir, my little princess, to a magical queendom that needs you. The spell to make you human could only last for so long and when it faded so would your mortal body. And it’s fading. 

I’ve watched these past months, I’ve watched and I’ve worried and I’ve waited. 

And I can’t lie to myself anymore. 

Melody, it’s time for you to go home. It’s time for you to take your place as heir among the night elves; to be a queen with a crown made of stars and to lead subjects who have been waiting so very long to meet you. 

And you are going to be great; you will be the smartest and the kindest queen they have ever had. You will lead them to victory and find someone special and you will be so very happy. 

And you’ll be able to dance again; there won’t be any more doctors or needles; you’ll be able to eat your favorite foods and there won’t be any more pain. 

So don’t be scared, Melody, and don’t worry about me. 

You can let go of this mortal body, you can let go of this world; there is a better one waiting for you. 

And remember; I will always love you. 

*Silence, broken by a shrill cry and a quiet sob*


End file.
